Pittsburgh—Freshman or senior, guard or forward, starter or not, it doesn’t seem to matter for Duquesne. At this point in the season, six different players have led the Dukes in scoring (Sean Johnson, Andre Marhold, Derrick Colter, Quevyn Winters, Jerry Jones, and Jeremiah Jones) in the past seven games. These players range in position from point guard to forward. This reflects one of the key characteristics of Duquesne’s offense this year—having four shooters on the floor for the majority of a game.
If you look at a team like Pitt, typically they only have three shooters on the floor at any given time. Adams, Zanna, Taylor and Moore typically don’t look for shots outside of the paint. Duquesne often has four players who are strong outside shooters. It’s just one extra thing that teams have to prepare for when they play the Dukes. Of the six players mentioned above, all of them except Marhold can shoot the 3-point shot with consistency on any given night. That is why Jamie Dixon and the Panthers focused so much on covering the outside shot in practice before the City Game.
Dixon mentioned after the game that he scolded his team when Johnson knocked down a 3-pointer in the first thirty seconds of the game. Luckily for him, his team’s defense prevailed in the end and left him with little reason to scold his team further.
In addition to the six-way shooting threat Duquesne poses, 40% of their scoring comes from freshmen Quevyn Winters, Derrick Colter, and Jeremiah Jones.
Duquesne will bring this interesting scoring spread into their game against New Orleans (2-4) Saturday at the Palumbo Center. Interestingly, New Orleans is one of only two remaining independent schools in Division I basketball (Cal. State Bakersfield is the other). The Privateers have gotten pummeled in their last two contests, by Nicholls State (92-79) and Southeast Missouri State (83-67). They are strong shooting the basketball (78th in the nation), but struggle with rebounding and team defense.
Photo Credit: Duquesne Athletics
